When writing a test for a service class, throws a NullPointerException exception due to the repository object used in the service class

Question

I am trying to test a service method. The method looks like this:

@Component
public class TaskServiceImpl implements TaskService {

    @Autowired
    public TaskRepository taskRepository;

    //tested method
    @Override
    public boolean addTask(Task task) {

        if (taskNameIsNull(task) || taskNameAndDescriptionIsNull(task)) {
            return false;
        }

        taskRepository.save(task);
        return true;
    }

    //other code

}

So, I write test for method addTask using JUnit5 and mockito:

class TaskServiceImplTest {

    private TaskServiceImpl taskService = new TaskServiceImpl();

    @Mock
    private TaskRepository taskRepository;

    @Test
    void addTaskTest(){
        Task task = new Task();
        task.setName("SomeName");
        task.setDescription("SomeDescription");
        assertEquals(true, taskService.addTask(task));
    }

And when I start test method addTaskTest I get NullPointerException:

java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.spring_project.nadia.tasks_timer.service.TaskServiceImplTest.addTask(TaskServiceImplTest.java:25)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:566)
    at org.junit.platform.commons.util.ReflectionUtils.invokeMethod(ReflectionUtils.java:436)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.ExecutableInvoker.invoke(ExecutableInvoker.java:115)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.TestMethodTestDescriptor.lambda$invokeTestMethod$6(TestMethodTestDescriptor.java:170)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.execution.ThrowableCollector.execute(ThrowableCollector.java:40)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.TestMethodTestDescriptor.invokeTestMethod(TestMethodTestDescriptor.java:166)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.TestMethodTestDescriptor.execute(TestMethodTestDescriptor.java:113)
    at org.junit.jupiter.engine.descriptor.TestMethodTestDescriptor.execute(TestMethodTestDescriptor.java:58)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor$NodeExecutor.lambda$executeRecursively$3(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:112)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.SingleTestExecutor.executeSafely(SingleTestExecutor.java:66)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor$NodeExecutor.executeRecursively(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:108)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor$NodeExecutor.execute(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:79)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor$NodeExecutor.lambda$executeRecursively$2(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:120)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp$OfRef.accept(ForEachOps.java:183)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline$2$1.accept(ReferencePipeline.java:177)
    at java.base/java.util.Iterator.forEachRemaining(Iterator.java:133)
    at java.base/java.util.Spliterators$IteratorSpliterator.forEachRemaining(Spliterators.java:1801)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.copyInto(AbstractPipeline.java:484)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.wrapAndCopyInto(AbstractPipeline.java:474)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp.evaluateSequential(ForEachOps.java:150)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp$OfRef.evaluateSequential(ForEachOps.java:173)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.evaluate(AbstractPipeline.java:234)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline.forEach(ReferencePipeline.java:497)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor$NodeExecutor.lambda$executeRecursively$3(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:120)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.SingleTestExecutor.executeSafely(SingleTestExecutor.java:66)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor$NodeExecutor.executeRecursively(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:108)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor$NodeExecutor.execute(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:79)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor$NodeExecutor.lambda$executeRecursively$2(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:120)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp$OfRef.accept(ForEachOps.java:183)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline$2$1.accept(ReferencePipeline.java:177)
    at java.base/java.util.Iterator.forEachRemaining(Iterator.java:133)
    at java.base/java.util.Spliterators$IteratorSpliterator.forEachRemaining(Spliterators.java:1801)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.copyInto(AbstractPipeline.java:484)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.wrapAndCopyInto(AbstractPipeline.java:474)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp.evaluateSequential(ForEachOps.java:150)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp$OfRef.evaluateSequential(ForEachOps.java:173)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.evaluate(AbstractPipeline.java:234)
    at java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline.forEach(ReferencePipeline.java:497)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor$NodeExecutor.lambda$executeRecursively$3(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:120)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.SingleTestExecutor.executeSafely(SingleTestExecutor.java:66)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor$NodeExecutor.executeRecursively(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:108)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor$NodeExecutor.execute(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:79)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestExecutor.execute(HierarchicalTestExecutor.java:55)
    at org.junit.platform.engine.support.hierarchical.HierarchicalTestEngine.execute(HierarchicalTestEngine.java:43)
    at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncher.execute(DefaultLauncher.java:170)
    at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncher.execute(DefaultLauncher.java:154)
    at org.junit.platform.launcher.core.DefaultLauncher.execute(DefaultLauncher.java:90)
    at com.intellij.junit5.JUnit5IdeaTestRunner.startRunnerWithArgs(JUnit5IdeaTestRunner.java:71)
    at com.intellij.rt.junit.IdeaTestRunner$Repeater.startRunnerWithArgs(IdeaTestRunner.java:33)
    at com.intellij.rt.junit.JUnitStarter.prepareStreamsAndStart(JUnitStarter.java:235)
    at com.intellij.rt.junit.JUnitStarter.main(JUnitStarter.java:54)

As far as I understand, the NullPointerException is thrown because of the TaskRepository class object. I thing so because other tests of the addTask method test cases when this method returns false passed.

What am I doing wrong?

P.S. This doesn't a Spring Boot application, but just Spring Framework.

Answer 1

This is not very relevant to the question, but here's advice... Please, prefer constructor injection instead of field injection, it's a good practice.

@Component
public class TaskServiceImpl implements TaskService {

    public final TaskRepository taskRepository;

    public TaskServiceImpl(TaskRepository taskRepository) {
        this.taskRepository = taskRepository;
    }
}

Then you can just:

class TaskServiceImplTest {

    @Mock
    private TaskRepository taskRepository;
    @InjectMocks 
    private TaskServiceImpl taskService
}

Or

class TaskServiceImplTest {

    private TaskRepository taskRepository;
    private TaskServiceImpl taskService

    @BeforeEach
    void setUp() {
        taskRepository = mock(TaskRepository.class);
        taskService = new TaskServiceImpl(taskRepository);
    }
}

Answer 2

You have created a mock repository, but not injected into your service. As you wrote, other tests of the addTask method passed when this method returns false, because in this case your repo isn't invoked.

Also add one of the annotations above the test-class depending on which version of JUnit you are using:

@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)  // for JUnit4 
@ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class)  // for JUnit5
class TaskServiceImplTest {
  
    @InjectMocks // inject mocks into class under test
    private TaskServiceImpl taskService;

    @Mock
    private TaskRepository taskRepository;

    @Test
    void addTaskTest(){
        Task task = new Task();
        task.setName("SomeName");
        task.setDescription("SomeDescription");
        assertTrue(taskService.addTask(task));
    }